Very beautiful castle above the Elbe.
The castle dates back to a fortification built at the end of the 10th century by the Přemyslids (mentioned in 1128) to control shipping on the Elbe. In the 13th century, the wooden building was converted and expanded into a stone castle. The Bünaus converted the complex into a Renaissance castle in the 16th century, but had to sell it to the von Thun family after the Thirty Years' War because of their Protestant faith. The von Thuns family used the castle until 1932, then sold it to the state for financial reasons and moved to Jílové (Eulau).
From 1934, Czech border troops used the property as a barracks. During the Second World War it served the German Wehrmacht, after the end of the war the Czech army moved in again and after the Prague Spring (1968) the Soviet army moved in here and operated here, among other things. a hospital. Due to the long military use, the building structure was seriously affected, so after the withdrawal of the Soviet troops, almost no window was left intact. For example, the former library served as a sports hall and nothing of the former interior was left.
After the withdrawal of Soviet troops in 1991, the castle became the property of the city of Děčín. Since then, extensive renovation work has been carried out, including replacing the roof and repairing the facade. Parts of the castle can already be visited again. A local facility for the disabled runs an inclusion cafe in part of the castle. A special feature is the Long Ride (“Dlouha jizda”), the 292 m long entrance to the castle surrounded by a wall on both sides. The walls become lower and lower towards the castle, so that the corridor appears even longer due to an optical illusion similar to that of the Potemkin Stairs in Odessa.
The rose garden was laid out next to the Long Ride in 1670, but roses have only been grown there since 1881. The park serves as a venue for concerts in summer.
The castle can be visited for an entrance fee. In 2018 there were around 63,000 visitors, a quarter of whom came from Germany.
taken from Wikipedia